Centennial residents Barbara Brophy and Laurie Ritchie at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. Ritchie won a free trip to the DNC for herself and a guest after entering an online contest sponsored by the Obama campaign. (Provided by Ritchie)

Laurie Ritchie said she never wins anything so she couldn’t stop herself when she got a call from President Obama’s campaign saying she and a guest won a free trip to the Democratic convention in Charlotte.

“I screamed, ‘holy crap!’” Ritchie recalled. “They totally laughed.”

The Centennial small businesswoman was one of three people nationwide to win an online campaign contest for the free trip. To enter, she had to donate $13 to the campaign. In addition, the DNC host committee had its own contest and selected one winner.

Ritchie said the four contest winners each got to privately meet President and Michelle Obama. She said they discussed several issues, including her SBA loan and a friend’s concern for her son in Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama told a Colorado Springs television station Sunday he would give himself an "incomplete" grade on how he's handled the economy.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — President Barack Obama told a Colorado Springs television station Sunday that he would give himself an “incomplete” when asked to grade his own performance on the economy — comments his GOP challenger Mitt Romney’s camp leapt on Tuesday as proof the president is out of touch.

In an interview taped Sunday when Obama was in the state for a rally at the University of Colorado at Boulder, KKTV reporter Dianne Derby said, “Your party says you inherited a bad situation, you’ve had three and a half years to fix it, what grade would you give yourself so far for doing that?”

Obama responded, “You know I would say incomplete…but what I would say is the steps that we have taken in saving the auto industry, in making sure that college is more affordable and investing in clean energy and science and technology and research,” he said. “Those are all the things that we are going to need to grow over the long term.”

Becca Siegel with Organizing for America found a novel way to keep her clipboard handy as she registered voters at the showdown between the Colorado State University and University of Colorado football teams.

Clinton, who presided over an economic boom that included a budget surplus and unemployment that hit 40-year lows, is featured in an ad titled “Clear Choice” that the Obama campaign is releasing today in Colorado, New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Iowa and Nevada.

In the ad, Clinton says the 2012 election is about “which candidate is more likely to return us to full employment.”Read more…

It may be the highest campaign event in the country so far this election season.

In advance of next week’s Republican National Convention, a group of GOP elected officials, delegates and supporters climbed Republican Mountain in Clear Creek County to show their support for the Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan ticket.

A poll released this week by the left-leaning political action committee Democracy for America shows Democrat Joe Miklosi trailing Republican Rep. Mike Coffman by four percentage points in their 6th Congressional District showdown.

The poll, conducted Aug. 7 and 8, surveyed 669 likely voters in the Aurora-based district. If the election were held in that time frame, 40 percent of respondents would vote for Coffman, 36 percent for Miklosi and 5 percent would back unaffiliated candidate Kathy Polhemus.

Moreover, according to the poll, President Obama holds a 52-43 advantage over presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Democracy For America is based in Vermont and founded by Howard Dean, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Miklosi is a part of the group’s “Dean’s Dozen,” which highlights Democratic candidates in what are perceived to be competitive races nationwide.

Both Coffman, who faces state Rep. Joe Miklosi in the 6th congressional district, and Tipton, who is running against state Rep. Sal Pace in the 3rd district, voted for the Ryan budget. The plan, which passed the House but died in the Democrat-controlled Senate, would have spent about $5.3 trillion less than President Obama’s budget, but also included tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

This is a transcript of the Coffman call (the Tipton call is identical except for the name):Read more…

Fluke is the Georgetown Law Student who testified before Congress earlier this year in favor of insurance coverage of contraception, and gained national attention when conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh called her a “slut” and a “prostitute.” (Limbaugh later apologized).

Obama is scheduled to speak at the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver Wednesday morning. While his talk – and other stops in Grand Junction, Pueblo and Colorado Springs – will be focused on his plans for the economy, the Fluke appearance brings to the forefront another area in which the Obama campaign is trying to differentiate its candidate from Mitt Romney.

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.